LE Corals, do you care?

[dough]

I am looking to add some a few more pieces of coral, be it SPS. LPS or zoo's. It seems that most of the sites, not all, but a lot, now have names associated with various frags and corals and especially the dreaded "LE" in front. I am not looking to open the debate, but was wondering if you care if what you buy is LE or not. Are you willing to pay extra for the LE even though it maybe a fad? Do you care? Or if it is purdy and you have the cash you may spruge?

 

[washowi]

what is LE?

 

[washowi]

Nothing is ever "Limited".........just go to reefermadness and get a nice colony. Those guys have GREAT corals..

 

[suasati]

Marketing at its finest.

 

[kwl1763]

Agreed it's all about the marketing. I could care less. If I like it and it's reasonable I buy it. If it's LE or Tyree or whatever long name you want to give it I could care less. If you've been in this a while you've seen the fads come and go and you learn to ignore!

 

[darren24]

If I like it and can afford it I buy it. I do not care if it has a fancy name like "Tyree" or "Rare one of a kind" etc.

 

[sprayin70]

I only buy what I like. I don't care how rare it is. If it looks nice then buy it!

 

[dough]

David, I understand what you're saying. :yes: CBA has some nice stuff, but they are under 1000 watt lights and they do change color under my 250 lights. I have 2 to prove it, but I like them just the same. Bought them more for the shape than color.

BTW, my goal is to stuff as much as I can into the tank!!!

Washowi is right that nothing is never limited. I guess the big "but" to that is if you can really trace a praticular coral back to the orginial owner and it has particular coloration or pattern. RM has some nice stuff. Extreme Corals has some nice stuff as well. Both have free shipping over $150!! Can't do much better than that on some of those colonies.

I have been caught in jumping on the band wagon with frag and noticed that pricing on the internet is down 75% what it was 6-9 months ago. Oh well.

Just pondering and wondering what everyone thinks.

 

[kappaknight]

Personally, I think I buy for color. The goal of my tank... which now looks like a 90 gallon frag tank is to liven it up with color. I think I bought my fish the same way... everyone has a different color.

LE is really just a marketing gig... and really only benefits those that are frequent fraggers who want to make money off of their investment. True, some do look great and some may just be slow growers, either way, nothing is ever really limited in the ocean, at least not right now.

The bottom line is... your regular non-reef friends won't care if you got an LE... the ones that can spot it and see that you have more than a few will probably thinks you're a snob and overpaid for them. You're not going to impress anyone by having the complete collection of LE corals... but I'm sure your tank would look good though.

 

[kh971]

Yes, please yourself, I mean coral purchasing that is...You will find your taste changing andwhat you first wanted will have changed, Think about what you want as a whole and what you want your tank to look like 2 years from now. That is my best advice....for what it is worth.
Color on corals, what a can of worms to open up. The guy named Cooper on this site, I gave him a Pappa Smurf blue millie, 2 months later went by his house, that same coral is now the most intense Bluish,Purple with a hint of pink...I can't stand it the color is amazing!!! His corals grow tremendously and the colors are great. I think stability and time are best for good colors plus regular water changes.

 

[dough]

KH971 - I know you from RC. I found another pocilipora daughter tonight! :boo: Just reading the thread over at RC on keeping color:

1. Water Movement - not turn over
2. Lighting
3. Clean system

I wonder how many of us do weekly water changes? I am probably 7-10 days. Somethings more somethings lesss.

I have seen where different corals look totally different from one tank to another. How many threads do we see complaining that a LE they bought from such and such is not quite the same color as in the picture.

Interesting thoughts.

 

[washowi]

Water changes!! I am lucky if I get to it once a month.....

Color is all about the lights....The color is the zoozanthellea (sp)...most acro's seem to turn "green" in my tank....at least its not brown...

Most of the CA fish places keep theres under 20K lights.

 

[kh971]

Actually lights or Kelvin will Help, but are not the full answer. Balance of CAL,ALK,MG and other trace elements and stability within the system. All of us have seen our tanks just achieve a beautiful coloration then out of nowhere the color fades a little time later. You wonder what happened...or what didn't you do...did you not clean your skimmer for an extra week? Did you not do a water change when you normally did? Did you decide to add that miracle supplement you heard others rave about? Alot of things can take the color out of corals through stress, but making the coral happy to color up nicely is much harder.I think if you keep a journal and stick to a routine for 2 months and nothing happens, then change your routine..till you find what works for you.
Hey dough...I am actually so fed up I am going to remove all my rock and remove the dreaded jokers by hand, then putty over what's left.They are actually growing on the walls of my refugium, so I will have to scrape them off. There will be alot of frags that day!!!LOL!!!